FR. RAYMOND DE SOUZA

One of my favourite insights from Joseph Ratzinger's long life in theology is that the Church does not convincingly propose the faith by the work of theology alone. Before his election as pope he wrote that the in the end the Church only has two compelling "arguments" for her faith being true.

JOE GUNN

Do you celebrate birthdays? Catholic teaching certainly holds anniversaries in high regard. After 1891's Rerum Novarum, important encyclicals like Quadragesimo Anno, Octogesima Adveniens and Centesimus Annus recognized and deepened the social thought that preceded them. As well, witness the many articles written in this paper to comment on the 50th anniversary of Vatican II.

The best way the Church can be heard and seen amid the deluge of the information age is to launch a media blitz of simple answers to life's deepest questions, a young Catholic journalist told a Vatican news conference.

The bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church elected Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk to be the new patriarch of the Iraq-based church, and Pope Benedict formally welcomed the election of the new patriarch.